Feb 5, 2013: Twenty years ago today, President Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act into law. This landmark legislation codified a simple and fundamental principle: workers should not have to choose between the jobs they need and the families they love. The FMLA is enforced by our Wage and Hour Division.

Military families can find themselves facing great challenges. Caring for an injured service member, arranging for alternative childcare when a spouse is deployed to a foreign country, or attending arrival ceremonies when a loved one returns from a deployment may present family members with difficult decisions about time spent at work versus time spent with family. The FMLA helps to ease the burden that can come with needing time away from work when faced with such commitments.

In announcing this Final Rule this week, the Department of Labor is taking great steps toward protecting those families who have given so much of themselves to protect us. Provided that FMLA coverage and eligibility requirements are met, family members of current service members and veterans will now have far greater abilities to attend to personal matters and medical needs related to their family members’ service.

Additionally, airline flight crew employees, with their unique work schedules, will have greater access to the benefits of the FMLA and a special method of calculating leave.